Civil War Quilt-A-Long

Monday, March 25, 2013

Ah, Spring as come, so the calender says. So what better time to spend your afternoon but curled up in your favorite quilt, watching TV or reading a book. Well, I know a sweet little baby boy that is wrapped up in his quilt taking a nap.

I had designed a Mother Goose baby quilt a while back for a little girl.

Well, she had a brother, and I wanted to make something in the same line but yet different just for him. So I came up with a Thomas the Engine idea. I dug into my little boy prints and came up with these:

Then I got out my paper and drew Thomas the Engine to the size that I wanted.

I carefully traced it onto a larger white square of fabric. Next, I got out my crayola crayons and colored in just a few places to set it off. Note: When coloring in a design, remember not to color in too much, it takes away from the picture.

The next step was to relax in my chair and put in a good movie. This is when I where I will embroider each line that I drew. I used 2 strands of black embroider thread for this design. It had a lot of close lines and I wanted each one to be shown.

Now it was time to cut out my fabric. I wanted to make the same blocks as the pink Mother Goose that I made for his sister. Only in blue. So I cut out the fabric and got everything all ready to sew together.

I made a modified chain block first. There is a total of 4 of these blocks.

Then I sewed a white strip to each of the printed strips. Pressed toward the printed fabric and then cut them all to a 2 1/2" X 4 1/2 in pieces.

Then sewed them all together. These will be my filler block.

Now that I had those blocks....I wanted to make a corner block with the boys name and birthday on. So I wrote it out and embroidered the blue letters. I came up with this:

This would be the bottom corner block. I now put them all together. Then I quilted it in an all over stipple pattern and put a scrappy binding on. (this is a great way to use of the left over fabric used in a quilt)

Total size is 45" X 45"

Next was to make a label for the back. I found a real nice poem for a boy and came up with this:

So what have you been making this year so far? Anything special? Leave me a comment, I would love to hear from you.

HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE,

HAPPY QUILTING.........

To get special designed quilts or to see my gallery, check out my site at: http://janesquilting.com

Saturday, March 16, 2013

What a week I had! My son and his fiance came to visit us down here in TN from PA. What a great time we had together. I did try to keep up with the Nancy Drewblog hop, but it was hard. I am still a few days behind in seeing everyone's work. I do not have a smart phone, (my husband calls ours the "Dumb phone") So I had to try and get on our computer. Well, not seeing them too often, we wanted to spend as much time as we could together.

The ideas that I had seen so far, were GREAT! I seen beautiful Book Bags, Library Totes, Kindle reader covers, book covers, etc. Not to mention the beautiful quilts. I do not know who does the judging to pick the top three for the day.....but I sure am glad that is not me. Anyway, I am still looking at all the beautiful creations

Now, in my opinion, and I am sure many will agree....Madam Sammalways works very hard on all these Blog hops and her work is truly AMAZING! She is one that gives to others, and seeks nothing in return. Well, I would like to take this opportunity to Give her a REALLY BIG THANKS and let her know that we TRULY APPRECIATE ALL HER WORK!

We also don't want to forget to thank Carol at Just Let Me Quilt. She also did a great job and we all want to let her know how we enjoyed this "Nancy Drew is a Clue" Blog Hop. I thought her finding the clues, and mystery giveaway was such a terrific idea. I started to play, but due to my company gave it up due to time. :(
I also want to thank my sponsor SUPERIOR THREADS. They were so kind as to offer this great prize of a $25.00 gift certificate to one of my followers that commented in this Blog Hop. Please, check out their site and for those that did not sign up for their newsletters, please do. You will not regret it in any way. While you are there, check out their great line of threads, oh, and their other products, also while you are there, check out their tutorials!AS FOR MY GIVEAWAY

I want to say that I had 125 wonderful comments (or entries). I want to thank everyone for their comments and for signing up for the newsletter at Superior Threads. I know you will enjoy it. And don't forget to check out their daily specials and their Tutorials.

So, I went to Random.com and got number ..............NUMBER 41TAMMY ...... CONGRATULATIONS!! you have just won a $25.00 gift certificate to Superior Threads. I will be notifying you shortly for verification.

Thank you all again for stopping by and leaving me a comment. I enjoy hearing from you all very much.
So for now, I am off to my room. I have been out of it for nearly a week and sure do miss my machines.

HAPPY QUILTING EVERYONE!

To get special designed quilts or to see my gallery, check out my site at: http://janesquilting.com

Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Nancy Drew Blog hop is going strong. I have seen so many beautiful projects. I must say, Nancy sure was a busy girl.

Well, today is my day and I want to first thank Carol from Just Let me Quit, and Madam Samm for their wonderful support and sponsoring this hop. Yous are did a GREAT job!!!

I must say, I was very puzzled as what to make because I really didn't know anything about Nancy Drew. Oh, I heard of her briefly but really not about her. So I did some research and learned a lot. I purchased a 5 inch charm pack and drew up my design:

I decided to draw Nancy in a picture frame showing what she is famous for. I also decided to do her in a silhouette form. So I drew her to the size that I wanted for the circle.

Then I made my block patterns:

Next I cut my pieces. I needed 10 - 2 inch blocks per corner. That meant 24 - 2 inch white, and 16- 2 inch printed. Oh, also the circle which will be my frame for the picture. As far as the boarder, well that will be determined as to what fabric I will use, after the project is sewn together.

irst

I then started putting the corners together by sewing all my 2 inch squares first. When this was completed, I trimmed where the frame was going to be sewed on.

From there, I sewed the frame on and put the four corners together.

As you can see, I fussy cut all my blocks to either show her books, name, picture, and yes, even her famous sayings: (working with bias edges....I sure need practice)

I laid the four corners onto the light blue fabric. This was hand sewn on to add dimension After that the silhouette was put on top. That was machine appliqued on . I then layered and quilted all around the silhouette and then in the ditch of the squares and boarder.

Waaa Laaaa here it is....... Now that you have seen mine....you will want to check out more Nancy Drew. Here is the list of today's blogs. Please check them ALL out.

The colors, styles, brands, I could go on and on. They have any kind of thread you could think of, plus Prewound Bobbins, Daily Specials, a Superior Blog, lots of Educational Videos and Tutorials, etc. Did you know they have Spool Clubs? .Oh yeah, and they offer FREE shipping on them. You will never find a better place to get threads.

Well, they are going to give a $25.00 gift certificate to one lucky person. If your name is picked you will be able to choose whatever you want on their site.

To enter...that is easy....

First, be a follower and leave me a comment.

For a second entry, go to their site Superior Threads and sign up for their newsletter, check out their products and come back here and leave me another comment as to what you would buy and make with your purchase.

Then on Saturday, March 16th, I will go to Random.com and blog on who won the $25.00 gift certificate.

(Please do not get upset if I do not respond to your comment. I will not be able to get back with everyone. My son is coming to visit this week, so I will be very busy. But I will try.) .I will be reading them all and I do appreciate all your comments.

So, good luck to everyone and

HAPPY QUILTING!

To get special designed quilts or to see my gallery, check out my site at: http://janesquilting.com

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Have you heard the news???? The Nancy Drew Blog Hop is about to start!!!

For those like me that did not know,

Nancy Drew is a fictional character in a juvenile mystery fiction series which first appeared in 1930. Over the decades the character has evolved in response to changes in US culture and tastes. The books were extensively revised, beginning in 1959. Many scholars agree that in the revision process, the heroine's original character was changed to a less assertive and more feminine character. In the 1980's an older and more professional Nancy emerged in a new series.

Do you know what the first book was that came out?

Nancy Drew is a fictional amateur sleuth. In the original versions of the series she was a 16-year-old high school graduate, and in later versions was rewritten and aged to be an 18-year-old high school graduate and detective. In the series, she lives in the fictional town of River Heights with her father, attorney Carson Drew, and their housekeeper, Hannah Gruen. As a child she lost her mother (at age 10 in the original versions; at age 3 in the later versions); this would reflect in her early independence (running a household since the age of ten with a clear-cut servant, to later, deferring to the servant as a surrogate parent). As a teenager she spends her time solving mysteries, some of which she stumbles upon and some of which begin as cases of her father's. Nancy is often assisted in solving mysteries by her two closest friends, Bess and George, and also occasionally by her boyfriend, Ned Nickerson, who is a college student at Emerson College.Do you remember these books???

Well, I must say, unfortunately, I never read a Nancy Drew book. I was never a reader in school. In fact, I was one that never read a book in school (My friend would read them for me) LOL So when this hop came up, I just had to join. But afterward, in all honesty, I had NO idea as to what I was going to do. That is when I researched Nancy Drew on my lap top. I surly learned a lot, but still drew blanks as to what I wanted to make. Then it hit me......oh, I am not saying. My day to blog will be March 11th. You will have to wait till then. Oh, and my one sponsor has a surprise for my giveaway.

Christmas in my Heart

Meet and Greet Stitches from around the world

Bird Tree

Have a Latte

Tammy 4 all Seasons

We Support You

Black Cat Crossing

T'was the Night

About Me

I am a retired Hershey worker that is happily married. My husband and I moved to TN from PA to relax and enjoy life. I have three grown children and three active grandsons. I am a quilt designer, my passion is to draw quilt patterns and make them. From large quilts down to small wall hangings. I have a cat, KC, that is with me in my quilt room while I create, she keeps me on my toes. We also have a beautiful well trained Shepard. I enjoy my flowers, gardening, although I cannot be outside much. I love going with my husband to Flea Markets, Antiquing, Fishing, Drives in the Country, etc.